After listening to an episode of Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations where she had an interview with Starbucks’ CEO, Howard Schultz – talking about how the company was made by the genuine inclusiveness of their human resources, I was captivated. Then came the idea that rushed in a form of an epiphany:
I just had to take my Surabaya Tells crew to meet a Starbucks barista to learn from them.
Because apparently one of the best ways for anyone to learn a practical value is to witness a person themselves that has actual experience credible enough to best equip their testimony. In this case, I believed it to be better for them to have a casual case study of Starbucks’ company culture by simply having a casual conversation with an experienced barista themselves.
At this point, I already knew a person who was fit for the job, but unfortunately the idea came during the worst of times where Surabaya Tells was facing one of its busiest weeks of preparing and producing content for our next volume. The idea was there, the person was already available to set up a meeting with, alas the time did not call for me to take all 12 people to Starbucks in means of commencing this little dream of mine.
The objective was simple, really. I just wanted my team to realize how important it is to work inclusively within each division to reach a certain goal by listening to what a Starbucks barista has gone through during her days of working at the company doing the exact same thing. I wanted them to understand the inclusive mindset that should be brought upon teamwork, as well as our day to day lives as a citizen to help one another in need. Other than that, I just really love the idea of sharing knowledge, and would love to see the look on their enlightened faces after listening to a barista speaking so passionately about her work in a people-oriented company like Starbucks.
A couple of months went by with this small wish buried deep, and left forgotten.
Until one Wednesday, a lecturer of mine suddenly gave us students the free will to choose a topic that’s going to be used for our mini thesis project. I of course, chose Starbucks in a heartbeat. So I, along with 3 other friends (who also happened to be members of my Surabaya Tells team as well) decided to conduct a qualitative research on Starbucks’ work environment in one of my town’s renowned malls. Which means we really have to interview a barista for real this time in order to do so.
My little heart jumped.
It’s finally happening! I’m finally taking my friends, though not in the name of Surabaya Tells, to see an actual store manager (whom I was introduced the other day by my lecturer during speech practice), and learn from her while conducting our qualitative research. Immediately then, I set us up to a meeting with the barista during her free time, and pretty soon after, we were off.
We met up with the barista at the Starbucks store she works at, and asked her a number of questions regarding her career as a store manager. The interview was conducted casually, and dominated by a friend of mine who seemed intrigued by the idea of Starbucks’ company culture and work system.
I, on the other hand, did not see that coming. Feeling blessed and engrossed, I smiled at the fact that this reminded me so much of my community journalism days, where all I was supposed to do was spark conversation with my interviewee and record the entire thing on my mobile phone so I could write the narrative of their interview to post on the ST account afterwards. Also, my friends who actually made it there seemed to have learned so much! Which was a tremendous added bonus for me as their companion.
The little dream I had over a month ago finally came true, quarterly.
Plus, I couldn’t even begin to describe how genuinely overjoyed I was when I listened to their presentation (it happened a few days ago, as part of our midterm test): they sounded terrific! My friends who actually went and listened, really took something back home. They absorbed new stuff and practiced what they learned, as seen through the flawless presentation they did in front of the lecturer and friends in class.
I couldn’t be more pleased to be a part of their learning process, though I did not reach all 12 people in Surabaya Tells for them to learn the same thing, at the very least was that I succeeded to take 3 of them with me, as a friend. The idea made me smile as I thought,
a quarter dream done is better than none.
Hi, everyone! It surely has been a while since I last posted something here.
Hope you enjoyed devouring this little piece, I personally liked this story, for a dream of mine actually followed through over a slow-burning process I never knew was occurring!
God sure has a way of making life beautiful in His time.
If you have questions or is curious as to why I am so into learning about Starbucks to the point where I want others to absorb the same thing, feel free to leave a comment or contact me through the links I’ll leave down below! ❤
I love to write little pieces of my life through posts like these, do you think I should make a few more for my next coming posts?
[photo courtesies: Google]
reminiscence. 